MANCHESTER — Manchester City's long-running case over 115 alleged breaches of Premier League financial rules is moving to the appeal stage and could drag on for years, after reports claimed most of the charges were found to have been proven. Sky Sports News understands an independent tribunal has reached decisions in the case, following reports last week that City had lost on 114 of the 115 charges, with the process now advancing to appeal before a new three-person panel.
City have been embroiled in legal disputes with UEFA and the Premier League for 12 years. In 2014 the club paid a £49m fine for breaking UEFA's Financial Fair Play rules, and in 2020 they were given a two-year European competition ban and fined €30m for breaking the rules again. That ban was overturned at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, where City were cleared of disguising owner funding as sponsorship income. That victory may give City fans hope for the Premier League appeal, though if the appeal goes against them they will not be able to go to CAS, with a strong possibility the owners would turn to the High Court to clear their name.
City chairman Khaldoon al-Mubarak, who in 2014 said he would spend £30 million on the best 50 lawyers in the world and sue UEFA for the next 10 years rather than lose the FFP case, struck a similarly determined tone in an open letter to City fans on Saturday. "The Premier League process still has a long way to run and our confidence and intent in proving the club's innocence is just as strong as when this began," al-Mubarak said. The most high-profile sports lawyers are keeping their thoughts to themselves until the full judgment is released, while Friday's leak may be used by City as evidence in their legal fight to argue the process has not been fair and impartial.
At the heart of the case is the question of how City became so big and successful so quickly. The club's owners have been accused of putting too much money into the club and disguising it as sponsorship income, an allegation City have always insisted they have irrefutable evidence to disprove. City's legal dispute with the Premier League would never have existed without documents obtained illegally by convicted Portuguese hacker Rui Pinto, which City describe as "out-of-context materials purportedly hacked or stolen" used in an "organised and clear attempt to damage the club's reputation".
City will face serious sanctions if they fail to clear their name, and the case will continue to cast a shadow over Enzo Maresca and his players until it is finally resolved. The club's reputation and that of its owners depends on the outcome, with the final judgment also carrying implications for relations between Abu Dhabi and the United Kingdom, two countries with close trade and diplomatic ties that will be tested if City are found definitively to have broken the rules.